Law and International Relations LLB Honours

This module introduces you to both the issues and phenomena covered by International Relations and the concepts, tools and skills needed to study contemporary global politics. The module examines core concepts of international relations (International Society, Sovereignty, Anarchy, Power, the State, and Legitimacy) as well as addressing enduring problems in global politics (war, co-operation, capitalism, hierarchies of power and privilege, justice and human rights). The module also considers the post-Cold War context and evaluates narratives of the rise and fall of a liberal world order.

This module will introduce you to aspects of the ways in which lawyers think and use laws in different contexts. It will allow you to develop an understanding of the ways in which lawyers and legal scholars locate, interpret, apply and evaluate the law and its effect on the world. It will also introduce you to the principles which govern and structure some key legal systems, including the English legal system, as well as other key legal traditions, including regional and international ones. You will learn to find, understand and present scholarly commentary on the law and its content, and present your own viewpoint.

Private law covers all aspects of our lives that cannot be described as criminal law or public law. It is the law that governs the rights and duties that exist between individuals and/or organisations, rather than the State. This module will introduce you to the legal duties and rights which govern the relationship between individuals and their application, within the fields of tort and contract law. You will look at the main tort of negligence and consider for example the circumstances in which it is possible to succeed on a claim for harm suffered as a result of an accident that was not your fault. You will also consider how contracts are formed and what rights can arise and be excluded in some common forms of contract.

This module is an introduction to the basic principles of constitutional and administrative law, which are important because they underpin the democratic state with which you interact every day. The content will cover fundamental concepts such as the nature of the British constitution, the status of the Parliament in the constitutional system and the impact of Brexit on UK law. There will be a focus on engaging with current issues and how these impact on the relationship between individuals and the state.

The module presents you with an immersive introduction to the dynamic fields of international relations and law, elucidating how legal principles and international relations theories collectively shape today's global order. It delves deeply into the foundational principles, methodologies, and practical applications inherent in both disciplines, empowering you to understand the intricate ties between domestic legal systems and the global arena. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach, you'll investigate foundational theories of justice and their alignment with international relations concepts. The module further delves into the historical evolution of the international system, emphasising the important role played by legal regimes and international treaties.

This module introduces you to the inter-related dynamics of state, politics and development in Asia and Africa and its significance towards addressing global challenges – from peace and sustainability to migration, gender and digitalisation. You'll engage with the concepts of democracy and development, and how together you define the past, present and future socio-political trajectories of Asia and Africa in a globalised world order.

The module will be taught by a team of scholars, who have the expertise in both the academic and practise aspects of development and state building in Asia and Africa. The teaching will take the form of weekly workshops, which includes lecture, seminars and group activities. You'll also visit the British Museum to learn about how Asia and Africa are curated in colonial and postcolonial geopolitics.

At the end of this module you'll know the nuances of the concepts of democracy and development, its many articulations in postcolonial, developmental and conflict contexts. You'll also be able to explain seminal political debates, concepts, and issues (like state building, sustainability, justice, peace) by drawing on case studies from Asia and Africa.

This module gives students the opportunity to understand the dilemmas and challenges of ‘doing politics’ in contemporary political life, encouraging active learning to enable and enact political change. The module foregrounds a series of political challenges facing contemporary political systems across the world – such as inequality, right-wing populism, authoritarianism, militarism, anti-migrant politics, political alienation, democratic crisis, the future of work, and the climate crisis. It focuses on political activism, participation, and campaigning as a way of ‘doing politics’. The module also draws on insights and engagement with local and national organisations to encourage thinking about ways to address these challenges.

The module will support students to develop their professional profile as ‘change-makers’ by enabling students to achieve the bronze level of the Westminster Award by embedding relevant activities within the programme and accredited skilled bases assessment.

This module involves the study of the practical application of the law in the main areas of legal practice. It is of primary interest to those who plan to practice in law. The module will focus on the changing nature of the legal profession and its regulation. You will learn about professional ethics and the rules of professional conduct. The module will also focus on the development of legal skills necessary for legal study and practice with a particular focus on legal research and interviewing, advising and client care.

Following the atrocities of World War II, states internationally agreed to safeguard the inherent dignity of every human being by protecting inalienable rights to which all members of the human family were equally entitled. Those rights, recognised as ‘human rights’, are still relevant today as they remain heavily violated worldwide and require protection. Various mechanisms have been established at the international and regional levels to monitor human rights’ implementation. Furthermore, various actors have come into play.

This module aims at introducing the fundamentals of human rights and the law, while at the same time trying to motivate you to later deepen your interest in human rights law. This will be done in an engaging and interactive style that aims to inspire your research instincts. It starts with broad discussion on rights and continues with an exploration of the central institutions of the human rights regime, while pointing to some of the main controversies in the human rights system.

At times where Islamic law is in the media, the module will offer you a critical understanding and comparative overview of Islamic law in its historical and contemporary aspects. The aim is to introduce you to the jurisprudence, the legal history and the techniques used in Islamic law through the centuries. This includes the early development of the law, the emergence of the schools of law, classical theory in the mediaeval period, modernist methodologies and evolution of the law from the 19th century to the present. The module is delivered using English-language scholarship. In the second part of the module, Islamic criminal law and Islamic family law are examined in light of a consideration of classical rules and recent developments in legal systems applying Islamic law in various States of the Muslim world.

The module concerns the relationship between law and social media. It considers the social impact and effect that social media has on our everyday life and questions the extent to which law is capable to regulate it and protect its users. In doing so, it engages with broader social, economic, political and cultural aspects of social media and the effect you have on society at large.

The module engages with relevant case studies and introduces the available regulatory frameworks and policy changes for the regulation of social media. The module covers a range of different subject areas, such as privacy, cyberbullying, psychology of trolling, civil and criminal penalties, revenge porn, defamation, advertising regulations, and intellectual property right. Finally, it engages with the ongoing debates, policies and government initiatives that aim to recognise and introduce greater responsibility on the part of the social media platforms.

This module offers a fresh and innovative approach to property law including a variety of approaches to alternative definitions of property law and the notion of ownership such as ownership of your own body parts or property and popular culture. The development and classification of modern property law are considered from various perspectives – historical, analytical and philosophical. The module can be studied on its own or may be a valuable introduction to several higher-level property law or legal theory modules.

This module will introduce you to the subject of Criminal Law. You will study the principles that form the core of Criminal Law including offences such as murder, manslaughter, non-fatal offences against the person, sexual offences, theft, burglary, robbery and attempts. You will also study defences such as insanity, automatism, self-defence and intoxication.

As well as being taught these core principles you will also be taught the theories that underpin the creation of criminal law in order to understand how we decide when to use the criminal law. You will also develop an understanding of the contextual dimension of the subject such as its role in politics, economics and society.

You will develop your research, writing and lawyering skills and apply these skills to the skeleton argument assessment. You will be taught via a variety of methods including television programmes, the media and online resources to reflect the interesting and dynamic subject that criminal law is.

This module introduces the study of concepts and practices of global security. It will encourage you to think beyond the traditional divide between international and domestic politics by considering global security as it plays out along a continuum of global and local spaces. Far from being exclusive to sovereign states, security concerns and aspirations have become global just as the practices of humanitarian intervention they inspire. At the same time, today more than ever, these are sustained by local practices and reflected in the very fabric of our everyday experience. The module will thus look at contemporary security at the level of the international, the global and the local.

The module introduces you to the field of public international law. You will learn about the key foundations of public international law, including how international law is made. The module addresses the position of states, international organisations and non-state actors under international law; basic principles on the use of force; and the responsibility of states for violations of international law. It considers how disputes between states are settled, including disputes concerning boundaries, armed conflict, and genocide, and introduces relevant international institutions such as the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court.    

The module incorporates traditional and critical perspectives on international law, examining the subject in its historical and contemporary political context, with a view to evaluating the role of international law and its limitations. Throughout the module, reference is made to actual and hypothetical examples to enable the application and analysis of international law in practice.

The module encourages you to develop your independent learning and critical reflection on your performance in the context of relevant work-based learning experiences, providing an opportunity for you to evaluate the workplace culture, your development, and your potential future role in the legal services industry. The module will also contribute to the development of your communication, interpersonal and other transferable skills in the context of relevant work-based learning. The module also encourages you to critically reflect on the changing nature and future of the legal profession, providing you with an opportunity to consider your potential future role within this context.

This module introduces you to the principles and concepts of modern English property law. You will explore the legal framework of registered land to understand why land transactions are registered at the Land Registry, estates and interests in land, distinguishing between law and equity to understand how the various interests in land are protected, the law relating to mortgages, to understand how a bank can take steps to repossess and how defaulting borrowers can defend a potential claim, the creation of a constructive trust and quantification of land in implied co-ownership, to understand what happens to the home when more parties buy a home together and the relationship breaks down – how the courts deal with the different scenarios, dispute resolution to understand what happens when co-owners end up in a dispute, express trust, implied trusts, constructive trust of the family home, fiduciary duties and the three certainties and remedies.

This module provides an introduction to the field of peaceful dispute resolution. You will learn about the foundational processes of negotiation, mediation, and other alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods, as well as adjudication through arbitration and litigation. You will also learn about the national, cross-border, and international aspects of these foundational processes, together with the application of English procedural law, English private international law (also known as conflict of laws), and, where relevant, public international law.

In addition, you will learn about the legal links involved between dispute resolution in the national (municipal) domain and in the international domain, together with the respective roles of national and international courts and tribunals. Although this is an academic module, the standpoint for the module teaching and learning is that of the prospective legal professional in England and Wales specialising in contentious matters. The tutorials focus on scenarios which illustrate the kinds of disputes and their resolution which arise in England and Wales.

The module provides you with an introduction to, and a comparative study of, European codified legal systems. It contrasts those with the English common law system and familiarises you with the academic civil law environment, while explaining the basics of comparative legal study. As also a core module for the LLB European Legal Studies programme, it prepares you for study abroad at a higher education institution in Year 3.

During the course of the module, we will consider why, what, and how we compare in law; what are civil law systems and what legal materials they use to find the law (constitutions, codes, laws, judicial decisions); how are the legal professions set up and organised in common law and civil law systems. In addition, learning to use different civil law materials, we will examine different ways legal systems think about contract, tort, constitutional law, and IP law in the civil law and common law traditions, and explore questions of convergence and harmonisation between civil law and common law in an increasingly globalised world. How big are the similarities and how big the differences? Does a single European Code make sense?

The module provides an introduction to law and policy-making on climate change, addressing developments at national and international level. The module considers the evolution of scientific evidence in relation to climate change as a catalyst for policy-making, and it looks at the relationship between climate law and policy and economic development. It examines the origin and basis of international cooperation to address climate change, including debates concerning considerations of fairness and equity in allocating responsibility among developed and developing countries to take action and to meet costs of climate change mitigation, adaption, and loss.

The module investigates the role of law in national approaches to combat climate change, through analysis of selected case studies and sectors, and focusing on the goal of net zero emissions. The concept of 'climate justice' is also explored, including strategic and other litigation in national and international courts to promote climate action and to seek redress for climate change-related losses.

This module introduces you to European law, with a particular emphasis on the European Union as the continent’s largest international organisation. In this module, you will examine current legal issues in this field and will become familiar with the EU’s legislative, judicial, and operational structures. This foundational knowledge will be applied to selected areas of procedural and substantive law, which may include topics such as the internal market, technology regulation, human rights protection, and the EU’s external relations (including Brexit). These subjects are analysed within their broader historical, political, economic, and social contexts.

In this module students examine political, societal, cultural and economic beliefs and practices at both the domestic and international levels through the lenses of gender, sexuality, and intersectionality, and through feminist critique. The module brings into sharp focus the problems of discrimination, marginalisation and exclusion based on gender and sexuality. Knowledge of gender relations is used to deepen student understanding of wider political, cultural, economic and social processes, practices, and power relations at national and international levels.

International Political Economy (IPE) is the study of political and economic interaction, involving a multiplicity of actors, across borders in world affairs. It looks at global political economy through a set of concepts, issues and examples. The module offers a critical overview of major perspectives in political economy and employs them to evaluate policies, institutions (nationally and internationally) and the realities around us. The module addresses inequalities between nations and among people and calls into question the sustainability of contemporary patterns of economic development.

“Humanitarian intervention” is an issue of unique importance which continues to be one of the dominant controversies of our time. Key events in the post-Cold War era, from the 1994 genocide in Rwanda to the 2011 intervention in Libya, have generated often highly divisive debate regarding the right and responsibility of the international community to “save strangers”. This module will examine the history of humanitarian intervention, its moral and philosophical basis and the primary sources of contestation such as its legal status, the question of legitimate authority, and the balance between order and justice.

This module considers the international dimensions of ethics and how these can be understood through contemporary developments in global politics. It examines how ethical judgements are critical to our understanding of international politics and considers the ways in which ethical frameworks involve important questions of political judgement at the local, national and global level. The emphasis is on the practical dimensions of ethical judgement in international relations, including questions of political violence, terrorism, climate change and international environmental politics, war and peace, LGBT politics, gender violence, globalisation and global inequality. You'll work both individually and collaboratively in examining the tensions between ‘order’ and ‘justice’ within the global space(s) of world politics.

This module advances students' understanding of how international law and the principle structures of state sovereignty, such as borders, the police and carceral technologies are founded on histories of colonialism, empire and class warfare.

This case-led module introduces Level 6 students to the rich complexity of how law emerged through military occupations in various historical and geographical contexts. Through critical and deep empirical analysis, students gain an awareness and understanding of multiples forms of indigenous jurisprudence, how these were impacted through colonial occupation, and what tools communities have used to resist against the laws of occupation. Through these investigations, students will become familiar with how law relates to key concepts in the Social Sciences and the Humanities such as gender, class and race.

In this module we will explore the legal history of sovereignty and state making. We will look at the histories and laws of settler colonialism and how these have shaped key concepts in global politics such as property, race, law, as well as ideas of progress and community. We will look at a range of indigenous, abolitionist and anti-racist experiences and literatures, to see how these communities offer a crucial perspective on global politics.

Professional Legal Practice: Knowledge, Ethics and Transactions

This module is designed to function as a bridge between your academic journey through the law towards your future professional career. The module will support you to build on your core legal knowledge and skills and developing foundational professional knowledge to create a launchpad for future professional or academic careers. In particular, those in the legal profession, including both barristers and solicitors. Foundational knowledge around legal practice and practical legal skills will be developed through lectures and seminars. It is hoped that this will provide you with the necessary professional practice skills to embark on future study, work in law, or more broadly in the business or charity sectors. The module is forward-looking and will embed essential employability, study and practical legal skills. You will also  produce an artefact or creative work which reflects your journey throughout your law degree.

Professional Legal Research: Advanced Project

This module allows you to engage in an advanced research project, working closely under the supervision of an academic or professional expert in the relevant field. You will develop advanced legal and critical research skills, and use these to map the state of the art in the area of your project. You will produce a research project which either contributes to a larger on-going project as part of a team or individually with your expert supervisor, and your findings will be presented in the form of a relevant written submission which contains your critical perspectives and conclusions. You will also work with to produce an artefact or creative work which reflects your journey throughout your law degree.

This module seeks to explain the formulation and implementation of US foreign policy. The module examines and applies a range of relevant traditional as well as critical approaches, such as institutionalism, realism, strategic-relational approach and discourse analysis, to the analysis of US foreign policy and policy-making in order to throw light on the role of the United States in international affairs.

This module provides an opportunity to consider the role of the law in relation to commercial transactions and the ways in which the law intervenes and regulates commerce, trade and business. It will examine the purposes of commercial law and the way it facilitates the commercial practices of the business community. The module will also identify the substantive law in key areas, consider its development and application to contracts for the sale of goods, the law of agency, and methods of payment, security, and finance of business.

This module is designed to provide you with an in-depth understanding of the core legal principles and practices that govern the modern corporate world. In this module you will explore how law shapes corporate decision-making, financial practices, governance structures, ethical standards, and adapts to technological advancement in today’s business environment. By focusing on areas such as corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, insolvency, corporate social responsibility and alternative dispute resolution, the module will provide you with both practical and theoretical knowledge and skills necessary to address modern challenges faced by corporations.

Employment law provides you with a broad framework to understand, analyse and apply the fundamental principles of the law of work, workers’ rights and the rights and duties of employers. Employment law is an exciting and extremely practical area of law which allows you to develop an advanced understanding of how the law balances competing political, legal, economic and ethical issues in the real world. The module covers the legal structure of employment relationships, looking at matters such as fundamental rights at work, wages, dismissal and equal pay. The module, therefore, combines questions of justice and rights, on the one hand, with practical questions relating to businesses and how they are run.

The module examines continuity and change in foreign policy making and diplomatic theory and practice in a world characterised by simultaneous processes of integration and fragmentation. It evaluates state and non -state actor external policies and assesses the diplomatic strategies and negotiation techniques you employ. The module focuses on agency: the formulation of foreign policy and the adoption and employment of diplomatic tools and instruments and negotiation techniques in pursuit of security, prosperity, environmental and humanitarian objectives. It considers the possibility of a sustainable diplomacy and foreign policy.

This module concentrates on the politics of development in the Middle East, investigating the extent to which this region has been structured by international and global political economy as opposed to domestic factors. The module examines significant debates and issues in state formation, political regimes, economy and society, particularly considering the legacies of imperialism and the impacts of neoliberalism on the regional dynamics of development. It investigates the politics of critical national resources such as oil and their implications for the state, economy and society. We will look at the main political forms and forces, including the authoritarian 'rentier' state, pressures for democratisation and liberalisation, and the rise of political Islam. The final part of the module focuses on conflict, intervention, and popular struggle, reflecting on perspectives on future development in the region.

This module enables you to consider the nature of intellectual property law in relation to specific rights and in the context of contemporary issues, as well as its important role in trade and commerce. You are introduced to the creation and internationalisation of intellectual property law. The underlying legal and economic philosophy of intellectual property law is examined. You will consider topics and themes from a variety of rights, issues, and perspectives, which may include patents, copyright, trademarks, passing off, and the law of confidence.